143996: He has a shop in the market and people ask him where riba-based banks are; should he tell them?

I own a shop in the market and some people come to me and ask me where the riba-based banks are, and I tell them that I don’t know, even though I do know where they are. Is this regarded as lying, and cooperating in sin and transgression?.

Praise be to Allaah.

It is haraam to deal with riba-based banks in order to get
a loan or to put money in savings accounts, because that is riba and is
haraam. It is also haraam to put money in current accounts except when
that is necessary in order to protect the money when there is no Islamic
bank.

There are other haraam transactions that are done by
riba-based banks, having to do with letters of credit, credit cards, and so
on.

It is permissible to deal with these banks with regard to
permissible matters such as transferring money, exchanging currency, cashing
cheques and so on.

Based on that, the person who asks you where the bank is may
want to go there for a permissible purpose, in which case your telling him
would not come under the heading of cooperating in sin and transgression.

If you want to be on the safe side and not tell anyone where
the bank is under any circumstances, they you should use a double-entendre
when replying, such as saying, It is close to here, or not far away, but ask
someone who can describe it properly, and so on. You do not have to tell a
blatant lie.